SNWE Chapter 1

【Beijing Capital International Airport】

After resigning from the company, Yuan Bei’s stable biological clock, maintained for many years, suddenly went haywire.

Like a hamster accustomed to running, once its wheel is dismantled, it feels utterly lost.

Staying at home, catching up on American TV shows, grinding through video games, watching movies… things he had no time for while working, he now scheduled all at once, yet still couldn’t fill his time. Previously, life had felt like a piece of tightly stretched plastic, but now that plastic had a big hole in it, with wind whistling through.

When his childhood friend called, it was night, and Yuan Bei was wide awake.

The other side expressed surprise: “Oh? Not asleep? That’s not like you.”

“So you called just to check if I was awake.”

“…”

His childhood friend’s original words were that this was an emergency, and he needed Yuan Bei to save him.

“Summer is way too busy, we’re being crushed. The original tour guide got heatstroke and can’t get up, there’s no way to find someone on such short notice. We have a group of twenty people arriving the day after tomorrow, and we can’t leave them stranded.”

His friend worked in tourism. Beijing tourism had no off-season, only peak season and even more peak season. One person had to split into eight parts to manage, and when busy, even those working in the back office doing coordination and sales had to rush to the front lines. Yuan Bei wasn’t hearing his friend complain for the first time.

“I remember you got a tour guide license, right?”

Yuan Bei was crouched, cleaning the cat litter box. He held his breath and didn’t respond.

“Anyway, you’re not working right now, so you have time. Help me lead a tour, just for one day, the day after tomorrow. I’ll find someone to take over after that.” His friend sent over several files with the itinerary and personnel information for the tour group.

“Not going. I don’t like helping out for nothing.”

The cat litter box was clean, and his two cats jumped in to use it. Yuan Bei shuffled to the bathroom in his slippers.

“How is this for nothing? I’m about to catch fire here!” His friend’s pitch rose a few notches. “Can’t I persuade you?”

After a period of mutual silence, Yuan Bei heard his friend say: “Those shoes, the Kobe 11 Black Mamba you had your eyes on. They’re yours.”

“You’re giving them to me?”

“…Yes, they’re yours!”

Yuan Bei and his friend both liked collecting sneakers.

Men’s interests were so childish and narrow. The rise of Air Jordans in college had become unstoppable. They didn’t wear them, just collected them, displayed them for viewing, and occasionally resold them when bored, sometimes making a small profit. Yuan Bei had an entire wall of sneakers at home, though there were also styles he wanted to buy but couldn’t get even with a premium.

Yuan Bei stood in front of his shoe wall, contemplating.

“Fine, one day.”

He needed to figure out where to make room for the new shoes.

“…There’s one more thing.”

“Speak.”

“There are still three tourists who haven’t arrived yet, and I’m a bit short on drivers too. I’m sending you their information. Could you pick them up from the airport tomorrow night? The three people’s flights arrive around the same time, so one trip should do it.”

“?”

Yuan Bei wanted to ask if there was no end to this. Were these sneakers really worth it?

His friend had already hung up.

He sent a voice message: “No way.”

There was no response.

–

Beijing Capital International Airport.

Wang Luxi woke up with a stiff neck.

She had chosen a late-night flight to save money, but due to weather, it was delayed by more than two hours. By the time she landed, it was already past midnight.

Fortunately, the capital’s airport was always bustling, regardless of day or night.

Walking out of the terminal with her stiff neck, the hot night wind hit her face. She took a deep breath, then unexpectedly laughed out loud, very loudly, causing passersby to startle and glance at her.

It felt so good, so good.

Following her mother’s instructions, Wang Luxi checked her suitcase—securely locked, safe. She also checked her backpack—ID card inside, wallet inside, charger inside. This was her first solo trip far from home, and she had reached her destination. Everything was going smoothly.

She gave herself a mental thumbs-up: Little Wang, Little Wang, you’re awesome!

The only small problem that needed solving was contacting the travel agency.

She had booked a tour that included airport pickup. Before the flight took off, she had mentioned in the group chat that her flight was delayed, so the pickup time would need to be pushed back, but she hadn’t received a reply.

Now, she was checking the group messages. In the twenty-person group, everyone was chatting about the itinerary, with the message count already at 99+. Naturally, her message had been pushed up, and the tour guide in the group still hadn’t said anything.

Had they forgotten about her?

Wang Luxi tapped on the profile picture and made a voice call.

The other side answered immediately.

A young male voice, quite pleasant, with an enthusiastic attitude, asked if she had arrived, where she was, and how much luggage she had.

“I’m sorry, little sister, summer is busy, and our airport pickup drivers are all scheduled in advance. Your flight was suddenly delayed, and I really can’t arrange someone on such short notice. To be honest, there are two other people with similar arrival times as yours, just earlier, and they’ve already been picked up and left… How about this, I’ll send you the hotel details, and you can take a taxi or rideshare. I’ll reimburse you, OK?”

Oh.

After some internal deliberation, Wang Luxi felt the explanation was reasonable. After all, she was the one who was late.

She hung up the phone and opened the rideshare app.

But the number of people waiting displayed on the app gave her the first shock of the capital.

Wang Luxi silently marveled—would she have to wait until dawn? While waiting in the queue, she posted in the group, asking the tour guide if there was an airport shuttle bus.

“I’m at Gate 8, which way should I go?”

The tour guide disappeared again.

Other tour members responded, also reminding her that at this hour, there probably weren’t many shuttle routes left.

Wang Luxi had no choice but to give up.

She looked at the barely moving rideshare wait count, found a place to sit, and pulled out her earphones to put them on.

…

Before the first song had even finished its intro, she suddenly heard someone call her name.

“Wang Luxi.”

The intonation wasn’t rising at the end, not an uncertain question; it seemed quite confident.

She had to remove her earphones and turn around, her gaze scanning the area.

The person calling her name was a stranger, a young man.

Wang Luxi stood up in a daze, instinctively looking him up and down, then added a descriptor—a handsome young stranger.

He was wearing a white T-shirt with loose, beige cargo shorts, with a Japanese-style vibe, a clean look overall. He was tall and thin, and fair-skinned.

Much fairer than her.

The terminal lights shone through the huge glass windows, and Wang Luxi could see the man’s face clearly in this light. His features were gentle, with an excellent nose bridge, and had the contours of someone between a youth and a grown man.

In her mind, she emphasized the word “handsome” several more times.

…

“Who are you?” Wang Luxi blurted out. Then, feeling impolite, she changed her tone, her voice becoming more delicate: “…Do you know me?”

The man glanced at her suitcase by her side, made a sound of acknowledgment, and said: “I’m the tour guide picking you up. Let’s go.” He reached out his hand toward her.

Scammer!!! Wang Luxi immediately had three big exclamation marks pop up in her head, crushing the faint admiration she had just developed.

She quickly stepped back, pulling her suitcase in front of her to create distance between them, alert in her attitude: “Huh? I just spoke to my tour guide on the phone, and it wasn’t you, right?”

The voice didn’t match, the tone didn’t match.

…Wait, where did this person come from?

Wang Luxi was confused: “Who are you?”

The man didn’t immediately answer, just rubbed his nose bridge, his gaze drifting to the side for a moment.

In reality, Yuan Bei was speechless.

Little did she know, this small gesture appeared in Wang Luxi’s eyes as evidence of his guilty conscience. The girl visibly tightened her grip on the suitcase handle, staring directly at him, chin raised, unfriendly.

“Never mind…” Yuan Bei conceded, too lazy to explain. “Call your tour guide and put it on speaker.”

The girl didn’t move, her expression quite severe.

Yuan Bei grew more frustrated.

He already regretted his decision. Tonight, he had already picked up the other two people and successfully delivered them to the hotel. By all rights, he could have skipped this second trip—what did a delayed flight have to do with him?

But he had looked at the passenger information, and the one who hadn’t arrived was a young girl, who, according to her ID, had just turned eighteen a few days ago. At this age, in this season, she was most likely on a graduation trip after taking the college entrance exam.

A young girl.

Alone.

In the middle of the night.

He was already almost at his building when he made a U-turn and came back.

…

He meant well, but the girl wasn’t appreciative.

The person in front of him was small in stature, but her safety awareness was top-notch. Her eyes followed his every move, tightly gripping her suitcase, then uncertainly opened her phone.

“…Wait, let me check first.”

Wang Luxi held her phone with one hand, her heart beating fast.

There were many cars and people around, a noisy environment that made her slightly more confident. Even if he was a scammer, he couldn’t kidnap her in such a public place, right? Especially right in the heart of the capital.

While waiting for the call to connect, she tried to articulate: “Have you seen me before? I mean, how did you find me?”

She was genuinely curious. With so many people coming and going, how did current scammers even identify targets? Did they have facial recognition systems?

…Yuan Bei remained silent.

He was too embarrassed to say that with her backpack, earphones, sitting on the stone stool by the door swinging her legs, she practically had “I’m a college student” written on her forehead.

Internet memes say college students have a “clear foolishness,” though Yuan Bei thought foolishness wasn’t quite right. But that energetic spirit they possessed was indeed quite distinctive.

He’d had it too. Who hadn’t been eighteen?

But after being beaten down by society for a few years, it easily wore off.

Yuan Bei also felt like laughing a bit. Just because Wang Luxi kept tilting her head, straining her neck, looking up at him.

Small but bold.

The girl was quite audacious.

…

“…No answer.” Wang Luxi rubbed her stiff neck. She didn’t give up, calling again, meanwhile telling Yuan Bei, “I can’t go with you unless my tour guide answers the phone. Also, you have to show me your ID card and my tour contract before I’ll go.”

…Yuan Bei gave her a glance, his eyelid rising and falling.

“…Fine, make your calls, I’ll wait.” He grabbed her wrist holding the phone, without using much force, just enough to turn the phone screen towards him. The call still hadn’t connected, and the girl was startled by his action.

He didn’t look at her expression: “Five minutes, until one o’clock. If you can’t reach them, I can’t help you.”

“Can’t help? Then what?”

“Then you keep waiting for a car.”

“And you?”

“I’m going home to sleep, it’s my bedtime.” Yuan Bei sat down on the stone stool where Wang Luxi had been sitting.

“My name is Yuan Bei. ‘Bei’ as in north.” he said.

Originally, he was planning to go to bed early tonight to reset his biological clock, but judging by the situation, that wasn’t happening.

Yuan Bei turned to look at Wang Luxi, only to find the girl was already sneaking glances at him. Their gazes met briefly before she quickly looked away, pretending nothing had happened, continuing to make calls.

She even rose onto her tiptoes a couple of times, the charm hanging from her backpack zipper swinging slightly.

Yuan Bei also looked away.

…

Summer 2023 in Beijing featured frequent high temperatures, with the weather repeatedly approaching 40 degrees Celsius. The news reported it was Beijing’s hottest year ever.

Fortunately, behind them was the airport’s automatic glass door, which opened and closed frequently, releasing bursts of cold air from the heavily air-conditioned hall into the thick summer night, adding an insignificant touch of coolness.